Category: AIR 1061 FM
 Published: Wednesday, 02 May 2018 07:43
 Written by Derek Craddock

An Airdrie artist has just completed one of the biggest projects of her career by painting 100 portraits of women in 100 days.

Veronica Funk started the portraits in January because she felt that she was not challenging herself as an artist.  After reading about a challenge of painting 100 portraits in 100 days, she needed inspiration, and she found some in an unusual way.

Back in the 2016 Presidential Election campaign, Donald Trump made negative comments towards Hillary Clinton during a debate.  It led to the poem “Nasty Woman” by Nina Donovan, which touched on the issue of oppression towards women.

“We are privileged in North America,” said Funk. “It’s not good for us to remain apathetic, we need to stand up and speak. First, I was upset a little bit by that and then I realized, she’s right, but it doesn’t have to be in a negative way.”

Funk said she put out a call on Social Media to find 100 women who were interested in having their portraits done.

“Within the first day, I had almost 200 women respond. Over half of them are from the community but they are also from throughout Alberta and even across the country. The bulk are Airdrie and Calgary.”

While it was a long time to finish the portraits, Funk made the most of each one.

“It all came together very quickly. What I did is I took one hundred 8 by 10-inch canvases and I prepared the backgrounds with lots of colours, using spray paint to kind of graffiti-inspired, street art and then I painted a portrait on each of them throughout the hundred days.”

The final portrait was finished on April 30th, with the entire artwork now on display at Inglewood Fine Arts in Calgary.

www.discoverairdrie.com

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Well...this past 100 days have probably been the most emotional for me as an artist and definitely worth the hard work.  It's interesting how some things just come about very quickly, which can be difficult for someone who needs to think things through very carefully, but everything fell into place beautifully.  Throughout this process I have wondered if I would have done anything differently if I'd been given time to consider everything, and I don't think so.  I really do believe that the women that became part of the project were meant to be and I do foresee this continuing in some format, though not at such a rapid pace.  I have loved looking at each one of these faces on their own and love seeing them as a whole...what a privilege this has been.

I think I have learned a few things about myself during this process, but most importantly:

• I have been blessed with heart-strong daughters who have guided me as much or more than I have them...their strength of character is an inspiration for me.  I haven't always felt very confident in myself and have often been afraid to ask for what I need but they are not like that at all, and for that I am beyond grateful. 
• In this time I have also felt the beauty of a community of women coming together to support me, which is amazing as I have always had difficulty asking for anything of anyone...and yet, the support during this time has moved me to tears on many occasions.
• The men in my life are incredible...even when conversations are difficult, they aren't discounted or disregarded.  I think we just need to raise an entire generation of men like them.

So this ending is bittersweet.  I am looking forward to the exhibit reception at Inglewood Fine Arts on May 5 from 2 to 4 pm.  Everyone is welcome.  I'm really hoping we can take some pictures together.  :)